Embracing the Dark and Light in a Troubled World

Now you are presented with an opportunity to see life in all its dimensions, from the depths to the heights. They exist together, and when we come to know from experience that the dark and the difficult are needed as much as the light and easy, then we begin to have a very different perspective on the world. By allowing all of life’s colors to penetrate us, we become more integrated. ~ OSHO

Many moons ago…maybe 8-9 years, I was very much into positive thinking but to the absence of negative thinking. I believed after following teachers like Abraham Hicks and other Law of Attraction methods that I should focus solely on the positive. One of these instructions was to avoid the news, to not get involved in the horrors that were happening in the world, to surround myself in essence with only ‘Love and Light’.

I was wrong.

I am now so grateful that after many deep dark depressive episodes and mental health issues I allowed myself to embrace the darkness within me. The important part of my own healing journey has been to accept, acknowledge and learn to love the parts of me that are scared, angry and sad, but now it is time to look outwards not just inwardly.

Looking for Truth

Looking back, I can see that after letting go of the ‘positivity bandwagon’ and descending into depression, I wasn’t able to take on more dark from the world around me. I had enough to deal with at that time. Now I feel committed to being very aware, eyes open and clarity driven.

So how can we make peace with the dark and light in the world right now?

It is a really difficult question to answer, so I am going to go through different possibilities, truths and realities (being aware that reality is a personal thing).

I Had A Dream

Last night, after watching Michael Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit – 11/9’ on Netflix, I dreamt I was walking through a car park. This car park could be anywhere in the world right now. In the car park was a young man, about 20-21 years of age, the same age as many of the men who have committed mass shootings in America. He was tied to a metal pole, naked, in the cold. People were shouting at him as he cried out that he was freezing and could someone, anyone, give him some clothing.

There was anger being sent his way, hatred.

I stopped and something in me just took off the oversized scarf I was wearing and carefully unfolded it and draped it around his shoulders and wrapped him up. As I did this, two older ladies came over and started to give him clothing too, one of them said ‘I have a woolly hat, you can have that’. I then walked away and woke up.

I wondered to myself what wisdom this dream was telling me. I am not a religious person, but I understand the concept of forgiveness. However, as a human being, if for example I had children that had been gunned down at a school, would I be able to show kindness and forgiveness to this young man?

I am honestly not sure, but I feel that this is where our lessons lie as a species.

We need to accept that we cannot tolerate the hatred being sent to many people and this is not just for white supremacists or hate groups, but also the exact same hatred coming from those who are against people who express racism and prejudice.

Hate and war against an ‘opposite’ have never made peace.

In fact, if this was a recipe for a meal, it would be a recipe for disaster.

In this dream I got the feeling that if these men who have shot innocent children and people of different race and colour, gender or relationship choice, were at some stage truly seen, truly heard, truly listened to – without hatred, without needing to make them wrong, but unconditionally loved exactly as they are, allowed to be seen as ENOUGH from those in both their chosen social structures and from those who oppose them…would the world change or remain the same?

Could I do this? I am honestly not sure. I would like to think I could, but right now I am too conditioned to open my heart in this way, but I am prepared to learn.

Seeing the Darkness and Feeling the Pain

Now this all sounds very nice doesn’t it? Just smother them in love and light and it will be made right? No… I don’t think this is the only thing that is needed.

We still need people to stand up and speak out against atrocities. We still need people to march, to rally, when groups of people are physically and psychologically abused, but we also need to become very aware of what is really happening, but to do so non-violently and we need more than this.

As I said in ‘ A World Divided – Why Conflict Is Necessary?’ we need to see that we are all conditioned, everyone has perceptions of what is happening based on what they were shown, given, culturally or religiously trained into from childhood.

But even if truths are essentially a personal thing, some truths cannot be ignored.

Flint Water Crisis

In the documentary ‘Fahrenheit – 11/9’ on Netflix, my eyes were opened big time. And as I am not in the USA, I was shocked at the alleged ethnic cleansing taking place in the town of Flint.

I did not know that for almost 2000 days (more than 5 years), their water supply has been poisoned by lead and other contaminants including bacteria that cause Legionnaires disease. Children sick, people dying, and future generations will be poisoned FOREVER as a result. What makes this atrocity stand out is that this town has a large black population and the wealthy white Mayor in charge decided to replace the population’s clean water supply with that from a polluted river, and it was alleged that he consciously and knowingly hid the high levels of lead poisoning in the citizens. The original clean water supply was then used for large scale business and manufacturing.

Michael Moore suggested that this town was a testing ground for what was possible in ‘Make America Great Again’ (interpreted by many as ‘Make America White Again’).

So regardless of whether you are FOR Trump or AGAINST, this could happen anywhere. If big powerful business has more of a say than those lives who need the natural resources, it can happen in a mostly black town or a town with a white, black or multi-cultural society.

This is one of many dark realities.

I watched the first hour and I cried. I felt so sad that still today, nobody is holding former Mayor Rick Snyder accountable for creating mass genocide on the people of Flint and is still allowed to be in office, under the current Government.

This could have been on the news from someone like the dictator Colonol Ghaddafi and everyone would have been horrified, but instead of ‘very obviously’ murdering people, it is done in a way where the people in power who do this are never held accountable for their crimes.

What do we do about this kind of darkness in this world?

How do we love or hear out those at the top who are allowing this?

We can forgive and send love to the shooter, but how do we find it in our hearts to do the same for those at the top, the Government leaders in power ALL AROUND THE WORLD?

Democracy Doesn’t Really Exist Anymore

When people vote (for example in the US elections for President and Vice President), I did not know until this week, that the candidate with the highest number of votes does not necessarily win. For example, in the 2016 Presidential election, Hilary Clinton received almost 3 million more votes than Donald Trump. He won because he got more votes from the Electoral College, which was set up by the Founding Fathers to avoid a direct vote by the people. They feared a tyrant could manipulate public opinion and come to power. So really..that’s not democracy, it’s fake democracy. The person who then becomes President is in fact a dictator (under the label of democracy – or a republic).

In the UK, much like the USA, our vote doesn’t really count, unless we are in certain areas, much like the swing vote areas in the USA where the political advertisers manipulate those ‘persuadables’ to swing the vote (watch ‘The Great Hack’ to find out more) and those in power can pretty much manipulate the people to get what they want.

It’s quite a depressing reality isn’t it?

But maybe we need these dictators (under the guise of democracy) because as history shows, any dictatorship eventually falls. This has happened time and time again. It never survives because when a powerful leader becomes so enmeshed in their own ideas and following, arrogance and pride comes before a fall. And the greater the pride… the harder the fall.

It reaches a crisis point and here we are right now, this crisis or boiling point is here and what happens next will decide how quickly those coming from fear and control will topple, but only time will tell.

How do dictators topple?

“The objective of nonviolent action is to undermine those in power, while winning over the general population. The most resistant groups are those who benefit from and support a dictatorship, such as the police, the military, and various elites. As long as these groups continue their support, an oppressive regime can remain in control. But once the middle class and elites defect, and the military and police refuse to use force to suppress opposition, a dictator is finished.

Any group wishing to overthrow a dictator must continually search for ways to encourage people to actively oppose the regime. They must also maintain steady pressure through continuous nonviolent actions. And they need be inventive, rather than settle for the usual placard waving marches. Both dictatorships and democracies have adopted methods for accommodating marches and protests, and view them as a handy way to let people blow off steam with little or no disruption to the business of the state.” http://www.citizenshandbook.org 

So, maybe we need to do the following:

1. Try to understand the opposition
2. Recognise that we can’t fight those who have immovable strong beliefs (from either side) and accept this
3. Keep sharing our voices, and learn new and inventive ways to awaken society on a larger level
4. Make the current reality, not as a comfortable/enjoyable for the Elite at the top and let them see, on their own, how choosing the old ways is not beneficial to them on whatever level that means to them.
5. Open our hearts to allowing the dark in. Letting love / prayers/whatever feels best for the individual guide their own personal journeys through this troubled world.
6. Keep very aware and eyes open to what is taking place not only around us, in our little bubble of the world, but to the larger world of humanity as a whole and recognise our brothers and sisters are everywhere.

How to Embrace What Is Happening Without Getting Lost in the Pain?

I end this somewhat intense post coming back to the question of how do we embrace both the dark and light in a troubled world? And is it possible to not get lost in this?

There is darkness in everyone. Everyone has a shadow. Everyone has a pain body. We all have thoughts of judgement, we all feel fear, sadness, anger…this is part of our sacred humanity as well as love, peace, compassion and togetherness.

If we can see that what is happening right now is exactly what is meant to happen, as Osho said  ‘By allowing all of life’s colors to penetrate us, we become more integrated’ maybe then we can find balance inside and then outside.

To know that the inner dictator exists in us all.

To know that the inner peacemaker exists in us all.

To know that the inner prejudice exists in us all.

And to not hate who we are or shame ourselves for having this dark within, but to become fully knowing of this inner world so that the light inside shines on it all and it is truly seen.

When it is truly seen with eyes of acknowledgement and acceptance, it is then that the outer world mirrors this and change can happen.

What do you think?

If you enjoyed this post you may enjoy my soothing and supportive podcast episode below on what is happening right now.

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